From: tenzicut
"How long will this keep?" This is the defining question of food
storage. Everything you will read in this work evolves from this
central question. The length of time a particular food will remain
palatable and nutritious in storage determines its usefulness for our
purposes. The fact of the matter is that there are few hard and clear
answers. As a result it is not uncommon to find two or more sources
who
purport to know, but that give conflicting data. The following will
hopefully cut through some of the fog.
A. "BEST USED", "USE BY" AND OTHER FOOD PRODUCT DATES
Although there are some twenty States in the U.S. that have food
product dating laws the Federal government has little regulation
concerning food product dating except for infant formulas and some
baby
foods. It does, however, require that if a manufacturer puts a
calendar
date on a food product it must also put wording to the effect of "use
by" or "best before" next to it to explain what the date means. This
is
called "open dating" which is to say that it is a plain, easy to read
calendar date rather than "closed or coded dating" that must be
deciphered. Another date also commonly seen is the "sell by" date.
While not as useful for food storage, it does have importance for
day-to-day fresh food purchases.
Because the Federal government has so few food product dating
standards manufacturers use their own to determine acceptable shelf
lives. For the most part, they are based upon changes in texture,
appearance, taste and cooking qualities. When a food item begins to
exhibit signs of aging that would make it unappealing to customers
then
it is considered to be at the end of its marketable shelf life. Look
for statements such as "use by", "best if used by", "best if used
before" or similar wording to find this date. For shelf stable and
frozen products it must include both the month, day and year. These
dates are useful for determining how long a product can be retained in
the storage program before it should be rotated out. When a food
begins
to undergo taste and appearance degradation the nutrient content will
have begun to seriously fade and the time will have come to use it up
so
it can be replaced with fresh stock. If the product was properly
preserved and not subjected to extreme storage conditions it is not
unsafe to use after this date. If there is nothing to replace it with
it may be kept, but its palatability and nutritive content will just
continue to degrade.
Fresh food items such as meat, milk and eggs use a "sell by" date
which simply means that the item should not be purchased beyond that
date. Products using this date type are only required to use the day
and month. Provided that it was properly transported and stored, an
item kept past this date is not unsafe to use, but will begin to
exhibit
signs of aging that will make it unappealing and should be frozen or
consumed shortly thereafter.
NOTE: The shelf life of any food, whether indicated with a "use by"
or "sell by" date or found on some chart, is predicated upon
assumed storage conditions. If the actual storage conditions are
different from the assumed storage conditions then the shelf life will
naturally vary. As is explained in *Section I: Time, Temperature,
Moisture, Oxygen and Light*, environmental storage conditions have a
major impact on the length of time any foodstuff will remain
palatable,
nutritious and even whether it will remain safe.
As a general rule, when a shelf life is given, it is for
conditions
of 70 deg. F in a dark, dry location unless stated otherwise. Be sure
to read the fine print on any shelf life chart you may come across to
see what its values are predicated upon. There are some floating
around
giving shelf lives of foods in storage temperatures as low as 40 deg.
F.
At that temperature you would expect to keep your fresh butter, eggs
and
milk, but very few have the ability to keep any significant amount of
canned goods in so cool a storage area.
Regardless of what the date or chart may indicate, if storage
conditions have been very poor then a food will become non-nutritious,
unpalatable, perhaps even unsafe to eat even if its listed time is not
yet up. An example of this would be keeping egg salad at room
temperature for several hours at a picnic. The eggs may have been
laid
yesterday, but you are taking your chances if you eat it. Never put
blind faith in any date. Always keep in mind that they are predicated
on unspoken assumptions. IF THE CONTAINER IS BULGING, MOLDED, FOUL
SMELLING OR SPEWS LIQUID WHEN OPENED, THROW IT OUT! But throw it out
safely so that children and animals cannot get into it.
*Please see Section III: Spoilage for further information*
B. CLOSED DATING CODES USED BY SOME FOOD MANUFACTURERS.
In spite of the fact that increasing numbers of food processing
companies are moving to open dating it is not yet universal. For
those
products that do not come with a plain "best used by" date it is still
possible, albeit with much more difficulty, to determine the rotation
period for that specific product.
For a processor to move their product in interstate commerce it
must exhibit a packing code. This allows them to easily track their
product for purposes of stock rotation and in the event of a recall.
These packing codes are usually a series of letters and numbers that
indicate dates, times, and sometimes places of manufacture. These
dates
are not "use by" dates, but the time the container was actually
filled.
As they are not really intended for general public knowledge these
codes
are frequently unique to a particular processor and are not commonly
published by them.
It is possible to get the keys to these codes by contacting the
processor and asking how to decipher the dating code for specific
product lines. Over time, readers have been doing this and the code
keys below are the ones that have been sent to me. Obviously, they
are
only a few of the many, many products that use closed dating and I
hope
that future readers will continue to send these codes in as they are
gleaned from the processors.
Frankly, when it comes to the potential dozens of products that
would require deciphering their packing codes the entire process is a
major nuisance. While it is better to have an encoded date than not
to
have one at all, it would be far better if processors would just use
clear open dating and (best used by) so we wouldn't have to carry a
book
of code keys like covert agents every time we go to the grocery.
Before I list specific manufacturers there is one fairly widely
used code key that may be useful. Some processors use a system where
all the days of the year are listed 1-365 (366 for leap year) as the
first three digits in the code. This number is then followed by a
single letter such as "B" and then by a single digit that represents
the
year.
Some examples of this might be:
Packing code Date packed
045B97 February 14, 1997
101H98 May 1, 1998
134K96 July 4, 1996
252U98 October 31, 1998
There may be other widely used coding systems yet to be
discovered
and as they become available I will include them in this work.
SPECIFIC PRODUCT LINES:
IMPORTANT NOTE: I have not personally verified all of these code
keys. Also, closed date coding schemes may change
over time. For this reason, the code keys given below may not be
correct. Be sure to check a number of containers in a product line to
verify that a particular code key will work with the product line you
are interested in.
ARMOUR STAR CANNED MEAT PRODUCTS
Vienna Sausage, Stew, Chili, Deviled Ham, Potted Meat, Slice
Dried
Beef, Soups, etc. but does NOT include Armour Star Roast Beef or
Corned
Beef.
The code is on the bottom of the container. The first letter is
the month of production; A=January, B=February, C=March and so on.
The
following two numbers represent the day of the month it was processed
and the third number indicates the year.
Example: A code of B148C23 would be B=Feb, 14 = the fourteenth
day, 8=1998. B148C23=February 14, 1998 and the last three characters
would be plant or processing line locations.
Armour Star Microwaveable Meals have a two line production code
on
the container lid. The second line is the is date and uses the same
code as above.
BERTOLLI OLIVE OIL
Packed two years prior to the use by date on the bottle or can.
BUSH BROTHERS & CO.
Baked beans, chili, etc.
A five digit code on the bottom of the can. The first digit is
the
month, the next two digits is the day of the month, the next number is
the year and the last digit is ignored.
Example: A code of 50173 deciphers to be:
5 = the fifth month or May
01 = the first day of May
7 = 1997
3 = last number is discarded.
Thus 50173 is May 1st, 1997.
CAMPBELL SOUPS:
Best by date on cans. Filled exactly two years prior to that
date.
DEL MONTE
Canned fruits, vegetables, etc. I'm not sure if it applies to
*all* product lines.
A five character packing code, usually on the bottom. The first
character is a digit representing the year. The next three characters
are digits representing the day of the year the product was packed.
The
last character is a letter and may be ignored.
Example: A packing code of 8045B deciphers to be:
8 = 1998
045 = The 45th day of the year or February 14th.
B = A plant code.
Thus 8045B is February 14th, 1998.
GENERAL MILLS:
The manufacturing date is coded to their fiscal year that begins
on
June 1st and ends on May 31st.
Interpret the code as follows:
The first character of the code is a letter and represents the
month the product was made.
The second character in the code is a number which represents the
year the product was made.
The following two characters are numbers that represent the day of
the month the product was made.
The remaining characters following identify plant location and
shift information.
Example: A packing code of E731B would translate as follows:
E = October
7 = 1997
31 = 31st day of the month
B = A plant location
The following is their 12 month cycle. The letter "I" is not used
because it can be confused with the number "1".
A = June E = October J = February
B = July F = November K = March
C = August G = December L = April
D = September H = January M = May
HANOVER FOODS CORP.
Small whole potatoes, green beans, corn, etc.
A five digit code on the bottom of the can. Omit the first
digit.
The next digit is the year. The remaining three digits are the day of
the year the product was packed.
Example: A code of 28304 deciphers to be:
2 - discard this number
8 = 1998
304 = the 304th day of the year or October 31st
Thus 28304 is October 31st, 1998
HEALTHY CHOICE:
First character is a number, second is a letter with the
remaining
characters being a lot ID. The number is the year it was packed with
the letter being the month, October = A, November = B, December = C,
January = D, and so on through the year. The recommended shelf life
is
2 years.
HORMEL PRODUCTS
Their packing code is a letter followed by five numbers. The
letter is their plant location and the numbers are the dating code in
a
MM-DD-Y format.
Example: A code of G07048 decodes to mean:
G = plant location
07 = July
04 = The fourth day of the month
8 = 1998
The can was packed July 4, 1998 at plant location G.
JELL-O BRAND PUDDINGS & GELATINS
The first four digits are the date coding. The first digit is
the
year and the following three digits is the day of the year.
Example: A packing code of 804522 10:38 deciphers as:
8 = 1998
045 = the 45th day of the year or February 14th
22 = discard the last two digits.
10:38 = the time it was packed.
Thus 804522 10:38 means that box of pudding mix was packed on
February 14th, 1998 at 10:38 a.m.
McCORMICK HERBS & SPICES:
(See also http://www.mccormick.com/info/oftenasked.html )
There should be a four digit number of the bottom of the spice
package or extract bottle. On foil packages, it will be around the
outside edge. This code is more complicated than other manufacturers
so
read closely.
Example: Using a number 3604 as the packing code:
To derive the year, take the first number and add 5 (3 + 5 = 8)
so
1998 is the year of manufacture.
To derive the month and day, divide the last three digits by 50
(604 ÷ 50 = 6 with 4 remaining). The six indicates the last whole or
complete month before the month of production, January, February,
March,
April, May, and then June. The next month, July, is the production
month. The 4 remaining is the day it was produced.
Therefore a packing code of 3604 means that product was packed
July
4, 1998.
While not as precise, you can save considerable time by just
finding the year. The last three digits representing the day and
month
will increase as the year grows.
PROGRESSO FOODS
Canned soups, beans, etc.
Two lines of code on top of the can. The top line, the first two
characters are the date portion. The first character is a letter
indicating the month and the second character is a digit indicating
the
year.
Example: A packing code of L7N18 1211 (this is the first line)
would be:
L = 12th month or December
7 = 1997
N18 = ignored
1211= ignored.
Thus a packing code of L7N18 1211 indicates the can was packed in
December of 1997.
C. SHELF LIVES OF SOME COMMON STORAGE FOODS.
The chart given below has been adapted from a number of different
shelf-life charts published by the cooperative extension services of
several states. It presupposes no special packagings other than the
way
the food comes from the store. The general assumption is that when a
given foods' taste, appearance or texture begin to take on noticeable
changes it has reached the end of its best marketable shelf life and
should be rotated out. This is not to say the food is no longer
edible,
but it is losing nutritional content at the same time so no purpose is
served by keeping it for longer than is necessary to replace it with
fresher stock. For what it's worth, I'm not fully in agreement with
it
myself, but it's a good working hypothesis and I modify it by my
personal experience which may vary from yours. If it is a dry food
then
only dry utensils should be used to remove it from its container. The
less light, moisture, heat and oxygen it comes into contact with, the
longer the food will keep.
All of the below are for new, unopened containers.
RECOMMENDED
STORAGE TIME
FOOD AT 70 deg. F. STORAGE
TIPS Keep the product:
======================================================================
=
Baking powder.................Till can date......Sealed & bone dry
Baking soda.....................2 years..........Sealed & bone dry
Biscuit, brownie, muffin mix....9 months.........Sealed, cool and dry
Bouillon, cubes or granules.....2 years..........Sealed, cool and dry
Cake mixes, regular.............9 months.........Sealed, cool and dry
angel food..........1 year...........Sealed, cool and dry
Canned metal can, non-acidic...2 years..........Cool
food, metal can, acidic.....12-18 months.......Cool
glass jars.............2-3 years.........Dark and cool
Chocolate, semi-sweet
or unsweetened.............18 months.........Cool and dark
Chocolate syrup.................2 years..........Cool & tightly sealed
Cocoa, powder or mixes..........8 months.........Sealed and cool
Coffee, regular.................2 years..........Cool, dry and sealed
instant................1-2 years.........Sealed
Coffee creamers, powdered.......9 months.........Sealed and cool
Cornmeal........................1 year...........Guard against weevils
Cornstarch.....................18 months.........Dry
Crackers........................3 months.........Dry
Flour, white...................8-12 months.......Guard against weevils
whole wheat.............6-8 months........Cool and weevil proof
Frostings, canned...............3 months.........Cool
mix..................8 months.........Dry and cool
Fruits, dried..................6-12 months.......Cool & sealed
Gelatin, all types.............18 months.........Protect from moisture
Grains, whole...................2 years..........Dry and weevil proof
Hominy & hominy grits...........1 year...........Guard against weevils
Honey...........................1 year...........Sealed
Jellies, jams, preserves........1 year...........Refrigerate after use
Molasses & syrups...............1 year...........Sealed
Mayonnaise......................6 months.........Refrigerate after use
Milk, condensed or
evaporated................1 year...........Turn over every 2 mos
Non-fat dry...............6 months.........Bone dry and cool
Nuts, vacuum canned.............1 year...........Cool and dark
other packaging...........3 months.........Cool and dark
in shell..................4 months.........Cool, dry and dark
Pancake mix....................6-9 months........Dry and weevil proof
Pastas
(macaroni, noodles, etc).......2 years..........Guard against weevils
Peanut butter..................6-9 months........Sealed, cool, dark
Peas and beans, dry
(not soybeans).................2 years..........Dry and weevil proof
Potatoes, instant..............6-12 months.......Dry and weevil proof
Pudding mixes...................1 year...........Cool and very dry
Rice, white.....................2+ years.........Guard against weevils
brown.....................3-6 months........Cool and weevil proof
flavored or herb...........6 months.........Sealed & weevil proof
Salad dressings...............10-12 months.......Refrigerate after use
Salad oils......................6 months.........Sealed, dark and cool
Sauce and gravy mixes..........6-12 months.......Cool and dry
Shortening, solid...............1 year...........Dark
Soup mixes......................1 year...........Cool and dry
Sugar, brown....................6 months.........Airtight container
confectioners...........18 months.........Dry and sealed
granulated...............2+years..........Dry
Syrups (corn syrup based)......8-12 months.......Sealed and cool
Tea, bags......................18 months.........Sealed and dry
instant....................3 years..........Sealed
loose......................2 years..........Sealed and dry
Vegetables, dried...............1 year...........Cool and sealed
Vinegar.........................2+ years.........Sealed
Yeast (dry)...............Pkg expiration date....Cool and dry
tenzicut